As the traditional monopolies of electric utilities have been relaxed in the United States, there has developed a growing market in wholesale electric energy. Utilities, independent power producers, and power marketers are some of the participants in this volatile market. Among other variables, such as time of day and year, and temperature, electricity pricing in a given region is dependent on the operational status of the electric generation and use facilities in that region, and the transmission capacity of critical transmission paths.
Participants in the electric power markets, accordingly, would find real-time information on the operational status of important generation, use, and transmission facilities in a region to be useful in developing trading strategies and responses to power system events. Likewise, relaxation of the monopoly status of traditional utilities has resulted in increased competition for customers amongst suppliers of electric energy. Information on the electric power use of potential customers would be useful to those involved in bidding for electricity supply contracts. It would be further advantageous to determine information on the supply and demand of electric energy without having to directly connect to the transmission and distribution lines conducting electric energy.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a methodology whereby real-time information on transmission line power flow, generation facility power output, substation power input and output, and facility power use may be obtained remotely and transmitted to an end-user of such information. It is also an object of this invention to provide an apparatus capable of accomplishing this task. It is a further object of this invention to collect and provide this information accurately, regardless of changing environmental conditions, over the long-term, and with a minimum of human involvement. Furthermore, it is an object of this invention to provide this information to an end-user in such a form as to permit the end-user to act in a logical and timely fashion to real-time events on the power system.